Yes that is what they call an Outer/Out of Body Experience. Are you in your late teens? It doesn't really matter but that's how old I was when it first started happening to me, there might be some connection with that period of life where your mind is wanting to understand more of the world and how life works and even tries to come outside its own body to have a look, just because it can.

I was terrified myself at the time, also thinking I was going to die like you. That was 20 years ago now and I'm still here. I still get this now and again but it doesn't scare me at all now. I don't know if it's because I'm used to it by now and it's become normal, or because I've seen so many other crazy things in the world that this seems almost ordinary to me? Anyway I enjoy doing this now, find myself struggling to stay outside and not wake up, which is totally the opposite of what I used to do when it first started.

All I can say is it's not deadly, there's no way whatsoever that you can die or come to any harm because of it, so long as it's not drug indused or anything which you say it isn't. If you get used to it and don't fight it you can have a lot of fun, it also shows that you are very imaginative, you can literally think outside the box.

Still, if you really do hate it at this time in your life, the best way to avoid it is to get to bed early and have a good night's sleep. Always go to bed at the same time so your body gets the proper, regulated rest it needs. OBE's occur more often when you are really tired, usually in the morning or, like your boyfriend says, when you take a nap because you are exhausted. Perhaps you've been starting your sleep at random times, staying up till 3am and sleeping a few hours one night and going to bed at 11 or 12 another night?